


The Sound Of Joy

by Rose_Nebula



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Baby Fic, F/M, Family, Life in the TARDIS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 19:24:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17966552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_Nebula/pseuds/Rose_Nebula
Summary: Sometimes, life throws a challenge at you and all you can do is gather your strength and meet it head on. But if you are clever, you may find ways to relieve the weight and make things easier to endure. Until the sun comes up again.





	The Sound Of Joy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TenRoseForeverandever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenRoseForeverandever/gifts).



> About eight month ago, Tenroseforeverandever and I found great joy in a video that circulated on Facebook. Here is the story it inspired - somehow she made me write it.
> 
> Betaed also by the one and only Tenroseforeverandever, who is a great inspiration, a patient teacher and a wonderful friend.  
> (Thank you so much for all your work and dedication!!)

 

Over a thousand years of time and space and the Doctor had never known a tiredness as bone-numbing as this. Time Lords didn't succumb to the effects of sleep deprivation – thank-you very much – and yet, here he was quite definitely succumbing. Of course he would rather eat his fez than admit that to anyone…

Yawning, he plucked at his bow tie, trying to straighten the fabric, but even it was wilting with exhaustion. The situation he and Rose had unexpectedly found themselves in was taking its toll. If someone had asked him months ago, he could never, ever have anticipated the fatigue and overwhelming weariness that would result. Oh, things would sort themselves out in the end. They always did. But right now, all they could do was try to manage, one step at a time, and make things better where they could.  
  
And this was one time he could most certainly make things better... he hoped.   
  
Determinedly shoving his exhaustion aside, the Doctor screwed a cap onto the lab jar he had just filled and tossed it into the air with a flourish. A spike of panic pierced his optimism when the little container threatened to slip through his fingers on its way down. He fumbled, but managed to catch it safely. Then, he stuffed it quickly into the pocket of his tweed jacket and patted the satisfying bump it created there.

“You stay put. You just may contain the solution to allowing Rose and me a few hours of uninterrupted sleep."

He had been working on the formula for three days, checking and rechecking until he had been absolutely certain it would work the way he intended it to while still being safely digestible. He wasn’t about to take any chances.

He bounced on his toes, hardly able to wait to see Rose’s reaction. She would be ecstatic... well, if she was still capable of feeling anything beyond the hopeless fatigue she tried to conceal from him. Not that he was fooled. In fact, the Doctor was more than a bit worried about her. Although Bad Wolf had introduced many simply splendid changes to her body, Rose still needed regular rest. Rest she wasn’t being allowed to get. The circles around her eyes grew deeper and darker every day...

_Well, this would help!_ The Doctor closed the lab door behind him and skip-walked along the corridor. The TARDIS sensed his optimism and blinked along excitedly underneath the glass floor, following the path of his footsteps.

As he came closer to the library, an all-too familiar, sleep-defying noise pierced his eardrums, making him cringe. Taking a big fortifying breath to steel himself, he burst through the door and triumphantly held out his token of peace, presenting it with a big grin to his wife, whom he found sitting on the couch. “Rose, I’ve done it!”

She didn't even notice him. After he had held his pose for a few blinks longer, the Doctor deflated. Rose was preoccupied comforting two of the babies, bouncing one by her chest and patting the back of another over her shoulder. “Noisy little things,” the Doctor pouted, put out by the lack of enthusiasm towards his life-changing invention.

But then he softened. Of course Rose’s attention would be on the children. Quite right, too. She was the most caring person in the universe and becoming a mother had only intensified this quality.

Initially, he hadn’t expected his and Rose’s DNA to be compatible at all, with him being a Time Lord and her being part-human. But the heart of his magnificent TARDIS had changed her human constitution more than they could ever have foreseen and now they were blessed with a lively set of _quadruplets_ . As in _four_ babies. Four babies who were currently screaming at the top of their lungs, the two who weren’t in Rose’s arms lying beside her on the wide couch.  

A small whimper of distress found its way to his ears through the hubbub of indignant infant howls. He dragged his eyes from his four red-faced offspring, to their beleaguered mum, tears filling her eyes as her desperate attempts to soothe the babies failed. The Doctor leaped into motion and whipped the lid off his jar, scooping a small dollop of sticky cream onto his index finger. Catching little Sarah mid-wail, he gently spread the substance along her gums, humming a pacifying tune and _praying_ to anyone who would listen that his concoction would work.

“There you go, darling. This should take care of the pain.” The Doctor watched his daughter closely, looking for signs of rejection, allergies, or skin reactions.

Sarah made an adorably confused face at the new taste and quieted noticeably, taking the soundscape in the vast room down by one blissful fourth. Rubbing his hands in delight, the Doctor moved on to little Mickey, who was flailing next to her on the couch. His shirt and bib were already soaked through, thanks to an endless flood of saliva - his body’s fruitless attempt to take the edge off the teething-pain.

Another generous dollop of cream later, and the volume in the library was almost bearable. He quickly took care of Wilf from behind Rose’s shoulder, and saved Jenny for last, since she was the one currently cradled in his wife’s lap.  
  
The Doctor could make out Rose’s strained singing now, as she wearily rocked the babies. He gently moved onto the couch next to her, finally getting  her attention.

_Watch this_ , he mouthed at her. Her song ebbed away when he worked his magic on their fourth child, spreading the calming paste slowly over the swollen tooth ridges.

Silence rang in their ears. Rose gaped at him in shock, barely able to believe what she had just witnessed. “How…?” she stammered, but the Doctor put his finger on her lips. All four babies were drifting into an exhausted sleep. The Doctor scooped Jenny and Wilf from Rose’s arms and, one by one, he gently lay all four slumbering siblings into the padded playpen.

He took Rose’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Off to sleep with you too, love,” he whispered. He tugged her through the door to their bedroom which had conveniently appeared next to the fireplace. The Doctor helped Rose undress and quickly soniced her teeth clean – she didn’t protest. Today it was all about using the time they had been given to get some very much needed rest.

\--<\--@

Only four hours passed until the first little voice was heard from the adjoining room, and while urgent, it wasn’t the frantic crying from earlier. The time had been more than enough to restore the Doctor. He laid his hand on Rose’s shoulder and pressed down gently when she started to rise, her body reacting to the needy sound of her child.

"I’ll go, love. You sleep some more.”

She mumbled something grateful and immediately snored softly again. The Doctor got lost in gazing at her sleeping form, his hearts full of admiration and pride for this wonderful woman. Another hungry squawk came through the open door and startled him from his dopey, lovestruck reverie.

“Alright, alright, little Daleks, I’ll be right there.” He quickly threw on a clean button down shirt and grabbed one of his more colourful bow ties. The babies loved them nearly as much as he did, and they enjoyed pulling them with their astonishingly strong, grabby hands to try and get a taste or to soothe their aching gums. _The sacrifices he made to keep them happy,_ he thought with a smile.

"Daddy's coming!" the Doctor responded to a tearful whimper, as he made the final, urgent adjustments to the knot of his tie, and bounded through the door to find four pairs of teary green eyes gazing back at him. “Look who is hungry!” he smiled. ”Breakfast is coming right up...

“Ah-ha!” He spotted the bottles of perfectly prepared milk his trusty timeship had provided him sitting on a nearby side table. The TARDIS had taken a shine to their troop of Time Tots, no doubt grooming them for a future where they could help work the console and discourage the Doctor from doing his wild dances and torturing her with well-intentioned repairs.

At four months, the children were more than capable of holding the bottles by themselves, so he swiftly popped one into each pair of waiting hands. While he watched them suckle, his chest swelled with emotion. He adored Rose feeding them the traditional way, but in moments like this he was glad to be able to lift some weight off her shoulders and provide for his little hearts. Smiling happily he mentally high-fived the TARDIS, and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

\--<\--@  
  
Rose drifted peacefully to the surface of consciousness. A giggle tickled her ear. It was answered by a happy squawk that generated the image of a sweet, toothless grin in her mind. Keeping her eyes closed, she rolled over and felt with her hand along the sheets for the Doctor.

He wasn’t in bed anymore and his spot felt cold. Frowning, Rose opened one eye and focused on her old nightstand clock. The other eye sprang open with a start. Seven hours! That was the longest she had slept since the babies had gone into this teething nightmare.

Suddenly feeling energetic, she shifted her legs to the floor and rose from the bed. The door to the library was ajar and a soft light painted a yellow triangle on the floor. Rose padded closer and pulled the handle.

The giggling grew louder and when she entered the room fully, she spotted the Doctor on the couch with their children tucked left, right, and across. They seemed to be in deep conversation, the Doctor being watched attentively by his offspring as he spouted out a story of some action-filled adventure.

He had just administered his best impression of a Snisnarfle, complete with snorting, glottal stops, and whooping. His tiny audience started giggling at once, a perfectly synchronous choir of pure unadulterated delight, interrupted by joyful inhaling noises. Rose’s heart swelled at the sound. It had been so long since she had seen them thoroughly happy. The constant discomfort of their aching gums had had them on edge for many long weeks.

Another harmonic chorus of bubbling laughter erupted from their little throats when the Doctor raised his free arm enthusiastically and wiggled it around, his hand forming a sniffing and snapping head full of baby-tickling teeth. Rose couldn’t help but smile right along with them, tears gathering in her eyes.

The children calmed and went back to looking at the Doctor expectantly. “Do it again,” Rose requested in a quiet voice.

He spotted her standing there and grinned mischievously. “Snarflegnaff!” he exclaimed with elaborate burbles and gurgles, opening his eyes wide and sticking his lower lip behind his upper incisors.

They exploded into laughter again, tongues poking out with joy. Rose stepped closer and swooped Mickey into her arms, swinging his legs in the air while he squealed. His siblings sniggered at the funny sight, and six little arms stretched towards her, prompting the Doctor to slide from his seat to lift Sarah from her spot.

They were “flying” around the couch, taking turns with the children and making screeching TARDIS noises. The ship, captivated by their euphoria, joined in with her own chorus of cheerful groans and tinkles.

Exhausted, the Doctor and Rose eventually fell back on the couch, overjoyed with their not-so-little family. It wasn’t always easy, this new life of theirs. But as the Doctor took in the faces of his loved ones, he realized he would go through a thousand teething times, just for one perfect shining moment like this.  Enduring the little hardships was worth it as long as they were together, and neither he nor Rose would want to miss this mad trip for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the adorable video that inspired this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBay1HrK8WU
> 
> The deviant art link to the photo manipulation: https://www.deviantart.com/rose--nebula/art/The-Sound-of-Joy-787797094


End file.
